cel@CITHEX.CALTECH.EDU.UUCP (01/27/87)
This appeared in the "TeXhax" arpa mailing list, and (somewhat) answers the questions that have appeared about DVI->PostScript conversion programs. There is another "public" program floating around, known as dvi2ps, which is really set up for Unix type systems, and hacked versions of it for VMS. I suspect that the programs mentioned below (Dr. Beebe is on the revision list for dvi2ps too...) are lineal descendants of dvi2ps, and probably less buggy. I haven't sent off for these yet, so I can't claim to know how good they are, or provide FTP's. To keep Dr. Beebe from being deluged it may be a good idea to pool some of the requests.... ---Chuck Lane cel@cithex.Caltech.Edu @cithex.bitnet @cit-hex.arpa 818/356-6779 >Sender: TEX@Score.Stanford.EDU >TeXhax Digest Saturday, January 17, 1987 Volume 87 : Issue 4 >From: "Nelson H.F. Beebe" <Beebe@UTAH-SCIENCE.ARPA> >Subject: Public Domain TeX DVI Driver family >To: texhax@SCORE.STANFORD.EDU > >At the 1985 summer TeX Users Group meeting at Tufts >University, I announced the availability of a family of TeX >DVI drivers. This note is being broadcast to TeXHaX since >it is evident that many people are unaware of it. > > ################################################## > These drivers are PUBLIC DOMAIN and NOT > copyrighted. If you get them and commercialize > them, remember that I will be in competition > giving them away for free. > > Enhancements and ports to new systems are expected > to be returned to the author for further > redistribution. > ################################################## > >This driver family is written in a highly portable subset of >C, with preprocessor conditionals used to select code >fragments which are of necessity dependent on the host >machine, compiler, or operating system. The code supports a >FAMILY of devices, so that each driver presents a uniform >Unix-style command-language interface to the user, and with >the exception of \special{} support, produces identical >output subject only to variations in device resolution. > >Font files in .PXL, .GF, and .PK formats are supported, >including invisible fonts (which have broken other DVI >driver programs). Default font format lists and directory >search paths are established at compile time, but can be >overridden at run time on all systems. A font substitution >mechanism is also supported to handle the common case of >fonts being unavailable in a particular magnification or >style. > >A new feature added in December is run-time selectable >virtual font caching, which maps entire font files into the >address space at file open time. This should improve >response when font files reside on a networked file system; >the many small character packet requests otherwise entail >substantial real-time delay across the net. > >Environments in which this family is already running: > > ------- ---------------- -------- > Machine Operating System Compiler > ------- ---------------- -------- > DEC-20 TOPS-20 PCC-20 > IBM-PC PC-DOS Microsoft V3,V4 > VAX VMS 4.x VMS C > Unix-Box Unix CC > ------- ---------------- -------- > >Unix systems on which this family runs include Sun, >Integrated Solutions, 4.xBSD VAX, Gould, and >Hewlett-Packard. On the IBM PC, compilers from Lattice, >Wizard, and Aztec have also been tried, but have regrettably >proved too buggy. > >Devices supported: > > Screen displays: > DVIBIT Version 3.10 BBN BitGraph terminal > > 300dpi Laser printers: > DVIALW PostScript (Apple LaserWriter) > DVICAN Canon LBP-A2 laser printer > DVIIMP Imagen imPRESS-language laser printer family > DVIJEP Hewlett-Packard Laser Jet Plus > > Dot-matrix printers: > DVIJET Hewlett-Packard Laser Jet 75dpi > DVIM72 Apple Imagewriter 72 dpi printer > DVIMAC Apple Imagewriter 144 dpi printer > DVIMPI MPI Sprinter 72 dpi printer > DVIO72 OKIDATA Pacemark 2410 72 dpi printer > DVIOKI OKIDATA Pacemark 2410 144 dpi printer > DVIPRX Printronix 60h x 72v dpi printer > DVITOS Toshiba P-1351 180 dpi printer > >Documentation: > 75-page manual in LaTeX (primarily for installers) > 15-page user documentation in Unix man style (but set > by LaTeX), TOPS-20 INFO, and GNU EMACS TeXinfo > formats. > >Distribution: > Available on IBM PC-DOS floppy disks (about 6), or 1600 > bpi 9in magtape in TOPS-10/20 BACKUP/DUMPER format, VAX > VMS BACKUP format, Unix tar format, and ANSI D-format > from > Dr. Nelson H.F. Beebe > Center for Scientific Computing > 220 South Physics > University of Utah > Salt Lake City, UT 84112 > USA > Tel: (801) 581-5254 > EMAIL: BEEBE@UTAH-SCIENCE.ARPA > BEEBE@UTAH-CS.ARPA > BEEBEN@UTAH-RUAC.ARPA > Send tape or floppies for a copy. Financial > contributions are always welcome, but not required. > The family is also included on my <PLOT79> graphics > distribution, since all new documentation for that uses > LaTeX. > > Eventually, an FTP mechanism may be established for > sites with ARPANet access. Source + documentation > amounts to about 1.5Mb, and executable code for each > device amounts to 80Kb-150Kb, depending on device and > host machine; this is probably too large for EMAIL to > Bitnet and Usenet sites. > >Future work: > Major pieces of work remaining to be done: > (a) merging in support of PostScript resident > fonts; > > (b) addition of more \special{} support to the > laser printer drivers; currently only DVIALW > supports a \special{} command. > > (c) addition of support for windowing systems on > bitmapped workstation displays; X-windows support > is in progress locally. > > Volunteer contributions are most welcome! >